ISTANBUL - Evaluating the state-mafia relations after the confessions of state-related gang leader Sedat Peker, human rights defender Eren Keskin pointed out that the mafia structure will continue to exist as long as the Kurdish problem is not resolved and said: "An opposition developed only through Tayyip Erdoğan is always wrong. This makes us forget the state and its core, deep structure."

 

After the confessions of state-related gang leader Sedat Peker, the mafia-state relations came to the fore again. The leader of the crime organization confesses the crimes including state officials, on a topic every week on his own social media channel. Gang leader confessed about the unsolved murders in the 1990s, the drug trade involving state officials and their relatives, and the weapons which sent to Al Nusra. While the confessions have been discussed in public for days, the Saturday Mothers, who asked about the fate of the relatives who disappeared in custody and demanded the punishment of the perpetrators, demanded that the confessions of Sedat Peker be considered as denunciation and investigation should be initiated. Despite all these demands, while no investigation was opened, there was no statement from the government regarding the confessions.

 

Eren Keskin, who has been fighting against torture and disappearances in custody since the 1990s, and Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD), spoke about Sedat Peker's confessions and the public's approach.

 

‘Unless the Kurdish problem is resolved, this structure will continue to exist’

 

Stating that states will not be obliged to the mafia in democratic geographies, Eren reminded that the state was associated with the mafia before the AKP. "This state always needs an enemy, and that enemy has always been the Kurds because they are the most visible and in the field of struggle," she said. Eren emphasized that the first of all issues is the deadlock in the Kurdish question. Eren said: "The situation of the state will, which has not solved the Kurdish problem, is showing itself today. As long as the Kurdish issue is not resolved and other official ideologies do not face the red line, this structure will continue to exist."

 

‘Süleyman Soylu represents the MHP more than the AKP’

 

After Sedat Peker's confessions, Eren also evaluated the words ‘There were no unsolved murders and torture during the AKP period’ in a television program attended by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and said: "I wonder if he believes what he says. There were two Süleyman Soylu, the first of whom spoke against the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Because in that speech he said that money-counting machines came out of the houses of some ministers in the AKP, he said that there is a MP in the AKP who receives money from Sedat Peker every month, perhaps he said this to protect himself. This is what we see, and I think Süleyman Soylu represents the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) rather than the AKP in this alliance."

 

‘What happened to Tahir Elçi, Ceylan Önkol, Kemal Kurkut?’

 

Stating that it is irrational to say that unsolved murders and torture did not occur during the AKP period, Eren continued as: "Our closest friend Tahir Elçi was killed. Where are the killers of Tahir Elçi and Kemal Kurkut? There are so many applications for torture that there are cases of torture that have been identified with the reports of Forensic Medicine, which is the official expert agency of its own. What happened to Ceylan Önkol, where is her murderer? Who made Roboski? Who killed Hrant Dink? A decision has been made in the Hrant Dink case, but no one, especially his family, wants to believe that this decision punishes the real perpetrator."

 

‘State mind continues as in the 90s’

 

Pointing out that the biggest indicator of the state's mind continuing as in the 1990s is the continuation of the same policy, Eren continued as follows: "In 2010, Tayyip Erdoğan was the prime minister and had a meeting with the relatives of the disappeared and said that he would reveal the perpetrators. He even made a promise to Aunt Berfo, who was the symbol of the lost families at that time. At that time, the Human Rights Commission was established in the parliament, for the first time the Turkish Parliament wrote a report on the disappearance of Cemil Kırbayır and said, ‘It was concluded that Cemil Kırbayır was tortured to death in custody’. This is the state report. What happened now? They want to nolle pros Cemil Kırbayır's file and we know that a decision of nolle pros can be issued at any time. As long as this policy continues, it is not very possible to solve this problem."

 

‘The opposition developed only through Tayyip Erdoğan is wrong’

 

Emphasizing that an opposition developed only through Tayyip Erdoğan is always wrong, Eren said: "This makes us forget the state and its core, deep structure. It forces you to reconcile with it to stay in power, this is the whole picture we see today, the AKP has reconciled with that structure. That is why today Mehmet Ağar, Alaattin Çakıcı, Tansu Çiller, Korkut Eken are defending the government. This is a system issue, not something that can be explained by a single party, this is the State of the Organization."

 

‘Prosecutors did not even open an investigation’

 

Mentioning the disappearances in the 1990s, Eren stated that in the early 1990s, especially the unsolved murders started to be talked about in the west. Noting that Rıdvan Karakoç, who disappeared in custody, is her client, Eren said: "I was a witness to his disappearance moment by moment, he already knew that he would be disappeared, he came to me and said, ‘I will call you every day, if I don't call one day, know that they disappeared me’. He did not call me one day and we never heard from him again. The funerals of both Hasan Ocak and Rıdvan Karakoç were found in a forest area. After that, the relatives of the disappeared began to gather at the İHD and finally the Saturday Mothers action emerged. At that time, the families of the people who were disappeared in the region were also threatened and many of them were displaced. We made many applications years later because families always thought that they had a file at the prosecutor's office, but the prosecutor's office did not even open an investigation."

 

‘Mehmet Tire became the mayor, no one spoke out’

 

Stating that the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance abolishes the statute of timeout against enforced disappearances, Eren said that Turkey resisted signing this convention and therefore took refuge in the "timeout" in cases of disappearances. Pointing out that the case was dropped when the perpetrator did not appear for 20 years, Eren said: "At that time, the state did not even look for the criminal, and criminals come up with new duties, for example, Dargeçit disappearances. Six people were detained in 1995 and they never came back, their families knew where they were buried and even the mass graves. They have been telling us for years, eventually we forced a prosecutor to open the graves in Dargeçit, and the bones of the disappeared were found in those graves. Mehmet Tire, who was responsible for disappearances of those people, appeared before us as the mayor of Bodrum Gümüşlük and no one spoke up. Unfortunately, the domestic public did not take an action enough, those who called themselves opponents did not speak, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) did not speak enough, for example, it does not speak enough today. We are the main opposition, human rights defenders, democrats, Kurds, LGBTI+ individuals."

 

‘Both the government and the opposition are fueled by the same unionist ideology’

 

Eren said: "If it were a democratic country, everyone would stand up and take to the streets after what Sedat Peker told" and continued her words as follows: "Unfortunately, there is no such tradition in this geography, because both the government and the opposition are fueled by the same unionist ideology. As the opposition, I see ourselves as 15 percent, this figure needs to be increased and expanded. We all live in danger, we are either in prison or about to enter prison, we are all under judicial control and we all have a ban on abroad, we live in prison. I attach great importance to the support of the international community, we have no power other than our hope, we continue to hope and struggle."